Echo Glen Signal Tower Presents
Episode 001 – “The Voice Behind the Static”
Broadcast Time: 11:00 PM
Host: The Station Keeper
Location: Room 3B, Echo Glen Summit Station
Frequency: Drifts slightly if you breathe near it
Weather: Fog thick enough to hold a grudge
[Opening Transmission – 11:00 PM]
Static. Tape clicks. Coffee sloshes quietly. A voice cuts in.
“Welcome to the late hour, listeners. This is Echo Glen. Broadcasting from Summit Tower Room 3B—the only radio station still running off reel-to-reel and regret.”
“I’m the Station Keeper. Don’t ask how long I’ve been here. I stopped measuring time after the coffee stopped working.”
[Tonight’s Sponsors]
- Clatterbeans Instant Coffee – Now available in ‘Vintage Library Roast’: smoky, bitter, and smells vaguely like Lt. Bookman from Seinfeld. Take it seriously.
- The Institute of Official Cheer – Curators of civic optimism, industrial wallpaper, and mid-century design crimes. This week’s exhibit: meatloaf in gelatin. Peer into the cheer.
- The Growling Lynx Weather Service – Tonight’s forecast: cold fog, lukewarm warnings, and the distinct hum in your cutlery drawer.
[Featuring the Voices of…]
- Narrator: The Station Keeper
- The Mystery Caller: “Tad from Route 9” (possibly a regular on Coast to Coast who never hung up)
- The Voice on the Tape: Mabel Thatch (last seen in 1983 reading aloud from a phone book)
- The Lantern: Played itself
- Station Keeper’s Wife: Uncredited, from down the hall
[Segment 1 – The Voice Behind the Static]
Found a tape marked “Listen.” Played it.
A woman’s voice, in time with the station’s broken wind-up clock, said:
“You left the lantern on. Again.”
Then the lantern turned on.
It’s not plugged in.
The Lynx stared, hissed, and dragged a backup reel behind the filing cabinet.
[Segment 2 – The Mystery Caller]
The phone rang. I answered. The voice was dusty and far away.
“Tad from Route 9. The tape? It’s not playing sound. It’s playing what someone meant. Don’t fast-forward it. That’s how they notice.”
He hung up. The silence after felt too… alert.
[Closing Dispatch – 11:34 PM]
“That’s all for tonight. If you’re still tuned in, write something down. Just a name. A phrase. Tape it to your window. The signal comes back around.”
“I’m queuing up something familiar: CBS Radio Mystery Theater’s ‘Beyond Belief.’ One of the weirder ones, and that’s saying something.”
Listen here – ‘Beyond Belief’ (CBSRMT)
“Was this story real? Was the voice on the tape really there? Did the lantern turn on?”
“We made it up. Totally fake. But… it felt true, didn’t it?”
Voice from down the hall:
“It’s midnight. Go to bed. You’re in the wrong room again—you know you snore.”
Tape fades. Static lingers. Then… silence.
